Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was released early from prison yesterday, raising the prospect of a return to the spotlight for the political heavyweight.
The 76-year-old telecom billionaire served eight months of a one-year prison sentence for corruption and is required to wear an electronic monitor during his four-month probation period.
Thaksin hugged family members outside the Bangkok jail where several hundred supporters wearing their signature red shirts had gathered, some shouting “we love Thaksin,” a journalist reported.
Photo: Bloomberg
Thaksin “may stay away for a couple months, but he will not leave politics,” said 70-year-old Janthana Chaidej, who took a day off work as a restaurant cook to show his support.
Thaksin, who is on probation until September, has other pending criminal cases against him, which could dissuade him from making rousing speeches and risking further prosecution, analysts said.
“I went into hibernation for eight months,” Thaksin told reporters from a rear window of his car outside his home in the capital, adding that he felt “relief” after his release.
The former prime minister was fitted with an electronic monitor at a Bangkok probation office yesterday morning and would not be allowed to travel outside of the capital without permission, the corrections department said in a statement.
While leaving the probation office, Thaksin appeared to joke with journalists about his memory, saying: “I do not remember anything. I have Alzheimer’s already.”
Thaksin’s political machine has for two decades been a key rival of Thailand’s pro-military, pro-royalty elite, who view his populist brand as a threat to the traditional social order.
His Pheu Thai party and its earlier iterations have been the nation’s most successful political outfit of the 21st century, with the Shinawatra family producing four prime ministers and drawing widespread support from the rural population, but Pheu Thai had its worst election result ever in February, slipping to third place and raising questions about the future of Thaksin’s dynasty.
Yet Pheu Thai’s inclusion in the ruling coalition of conservative Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has left open the possibility of a political comeback.
For his die-hard supporters, Thaksin’s release “will strengthen Pheu Thai in the short term because people will feel that the Pheu Thai owner is back,” political science lecturer Wanwichit Boonprong said.
However, Thaksin’s “old enemies, the conservatives,” would rally around Anutin, who “has what Thaksin does not have — the trust of the elites,” Wanwichit said.
The anti-Thaksin conservatives “will unite and focus on Thaksin’s next move — and whether he will stay away from politics,” he added.
The corrections department announced Thaksin’s parole last month, citing his age and that he had less than a year left to serve as reasons for his early release.
Thaksin was jailed after the Thai Supreme Court last year ruled that he improperly served a 2023 sentence in a hospital suite rather than a prison cell.
He was elected prime minister in 2001 and again in 2005, and took himself into exile after his second term was cut short by a military coup.
After returning to Thailand in August 2023, he was sentenced to eight years for corruption and abuse of power, but, rather than prison, he was whisked to a private room in hospital on health grounds, his sentence was reduced to one year by royal pardon and he was freed as part of an early release scheme for elderly prisoners.
The timing of his return and his medical transfer, which coincided with Pheu Thai forming a new government, fueled public suspicion of a backroom deal and allegations of special treatment.
The Supreme Court in September last year ruled that Thaksin had not been suffering from a critical health condition and his time spent in hospital could not count as time served, landing him in prison to serve his one-year term.
Thaksin was one of more than 850 prisoners who were approved for early release.
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